How Arvinder Singh Lovely's exit as Delhi Congress chief will hurt the party in Lok Sabha polls

In a jolt for the Congress, Arvinder Singh Lovely quit as the president of the party’s Delhi unit just weeks before the Lok Sabha elections in the National Capital. His resignation has laid bare the rift within the Delhi Pradesh Congress over the Grand Old Party’s alliance with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for the general elections.

There are murmurs as to whether Lovely stepping down from the post would hurt the Congress-AAP alliance in Delhi. Some believe it might. But, why did he resign? What could be its impact?

Let’s take a closer look.

Why did Arvinder Singh Lovely quit?

Lovely said in his resignation letter on Sunday (28 April) that he had found himself
“handicapped and unable to continue” as the president of the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) as all decisions by the party’s Delhi unit were “unilaterally vetoed” by the All India Congress Committee (AICC) Delhi in-charge Deepak Babaria.

He said the Delhi Congress was against the party’s alliance with the AAP. Lovely also raised the issue of the selection of “outsiders” as Lok Sabha candidates in his four-page letter to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, referring to the candidature of Kanhaiya Kumar in North East Delhi and Udit Raj in North West Delhi.

He also hit out at Kumar for lauding Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal , who is in jail in the alleged Delhi liquor scam.

Lovely further alleged that the Delhi Congress was not even informed of the final decision by the AICC on the name of candidates before the official announcement.

According to Babaria, the DPCC leaders and workers were taken into confidence before forging the alliance with the AAP. “He (Lovely) was part of all the committees and panels; he should have raised his objections back then. Anyone who distances themselves from any party or posts tends to find a reason to do so,” the AICC’s Delhi in-charge was quoted as saying by PTI.

Hours after his resignation, Lovely, at a press conference at his residence in the National Capital, said he had only quit as the Delhi Congress chief and had no plans to join another party.

Lovely said his resignation showed the “pain” of Congress workers who were upset that the “ideals they had been fighting for during the last seven to eight years” were being compromised, reported Times of India (TOI).

“We are fighting the elections together, but never did Congress workers say that we are giving a clean chit to them or giving them credit for building schools and hospitals, which is far from the reality,” he said about the Grand Old Party’s tie-up with the AAP.

Lovely’s clarification came after claims that the BJP would field him from the East Delhi Lok Sabha constituency, replacing Harsh Malhotra.

Who is Arvinder Singh Lovely?

Lovely is one of the key faces of the Delhi Congress unit. He became the youngest Delhi MLA in 1998 when he was elected from the Gandhi Nagar constituency at the age of 30. He went on to represent the constituency thrice – in 2003, 2008 and 2013.

Lovely held various portfolios, including Education, Transport and Urban Development, during the three tenures of Sheila Dikshit as Delhi’s chief minister.

As the Delhi education minister, he brought 25 per cent reservations for children from the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) in private schools, as per an Indian Express report.

During his tenure as the transport minister, Delhi’s Blueline buses were replaced with green, red, and orange low-floor buses, the report added.

When he was the urban development, the government regularised nearly 1,000 colonies across the city and brought the Delhi Development of Urban Village Scheme, which benefited 135 urban villages, noted The Federal.

He was the Delhi Congress chief when the AAP stormed to power in the National Capital, spectacularly defeating the Grand Old Party in the 2015 Assembly elections. Lovely later stepped down from the post of the DPCC president for the first time.

He briefly left the Congress in 2017 and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). However, Lovely returned to the Grand Old Party in early 2018, saying the saffron party was an “ideological misfit” for him, The Federal reported.

As per Indian Express, Lovely “impressed” the Congress top brass last October by waving the party’s flags in Sikh-dominated Tilak Nagar, signalling the return of the party in an area marred by the anti-Sikh riots.

Will Lovely’s move hurt Congress?

Lovely’s resignation has shed light on the feud within the Delhi Pradesh Congress, with some leaders calling for the removal of AICC in-charge Babaria, according to a PTI report.

Some party workers assembled outside Lovely’s residence and raised slogans against Babaria. Several Congress leaders, including Sandeep Dikshit, Raj Kumar Chauhan, Surender Sharma, Naseeb Singh, Neeraj Basoya, and Laxman Rawat, met the former Delhi Congress unit chief at his residence.

Congress sources told TOI that the presence of the party leaders was a “show of strength” by Lovely. “Clearly, there are two Congress factions in the Delhi unit right now, one preferred by the high command and the other of Lovely,” a source said.

Arvind Singh Lovely addresses a press conference in New Delhi on 28 April 2024. PTI

Lovely stepping down as DPCC chief could impact the alliance of AAP and Congress, which are part of the INDIA bloc, in Assembly seats dominated by Sikhs, reported Indian Express.

“Many supporters, both dormant Congress workers as well as new ones, from the Sikh community who Lovely struck a chord with since October won’t be happy with the party over the allegations he has raised,” a Congress functionary told the newspaper.

“This episode will have a negative impact on the AAP-Congress alliance in Assembly segments such as Tilak Nagar, Hari Nagar, Rajouri Garden, Laxmi Nagar, Civil Lines, and Jangpura, just to name a few which come under the West Delhi, North East Delhi, and Chandni Chowk Lok Sabha seats,” the leader said.

Speaking to Indian Express, some Delhi Congress leaders predicted more resignations in the coming days. Lovely was among “a significant section of senior Delhi Congress leaders” who could “form a political, anti-corruption front” against the AAP.

“These are the same leaders whom the AAP daily targeted when it first arrived on the scene … Leaders such as Lovely, Sandeep Dikshit, and Rajkumar Chauhan were told that they would be fielded in the Lok Sabha to reclaim their lost political ground. But the party’s senior leadership, at Deepak Babaria’s suggestion, disowned them at the last moment and that too very disrespectfully,” a Congress leader told the newspaper.

Another expert said Lovely’s resignation has weakened the future of the Congress-AAP alliance.

Sayantan Ghosh, a columnist and research scholar, wrote for The Quint that Lovely’s resignation “destabilises the alliance’s future and the party’s neglect of its own ranks has not only endangered its prospects in Delhi but also bred seeds of distrust internally.”

With inputs from agencies